Matchmaker Mayheim
by Teefa and Co
Summary: AKA, what happens when Teefa watches too much anime. Taking place 20 years before the game, this is what came to mind after Leehalt and Werner argued at the top of Yggdrasil.
1. Lovestruck

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Lovestruck

"This is not how I wanted to spend my day," complained Leehalt Alcheste, "Going to town to ask about the veins of gems in the mines. What good will this do to help us restore the environment?" The twenty-six year old scientist was fanning himself with a notebook to keep the flies off. He had black hair and brown eyes, and a face that always seemed to scowl no matter what was happening.

  
"You think you have problems, I'm all out of makeup. And we have too much work to do on this assignment to go shopping now. My lipstick is beginning to wear off, and my eyeshadow and blush are running," Melody Vilente quipped back. At twenty, she was the only female on the Council of Seven. She was also a bit of a drama queen and had more makeup than all the people of Little Rock combined. Melody wore her purple hair mannishly short, so not to get it tangled in the equipment in the lab, and have to ravage her features, and her deep blue eyes shone with a radiant light.

Werner Maxwell, the third member of the Environmental Alteration Team, told them, "We'll get this done much faster if you would stop complaining and complete the assignment. After all, the sooner we are finished the sooner we can all go our separate ways and shop or whatever we want." He wiped the brown hair off of his forehead so he could get rid of the sweat, and closed his blue eyes.

Twenty-five year old Werner saw himself as a bit of a peacemaker. He was usually trying to keep things calm among his contemporaries, although that usually gave him more trouble when they began arguing with him instead. And today was no exception. Leehalt and Melody were perfectly happy with their fight, and didn't appreciate Werner butting in any more than he appreciated their argument.

Leehalt stared down the man he considered his rival. "Maxwell, you just shut up. I can complain if I want to. One of these days I'd like to see Duran go out and do something like this. He's always telling us how easy we've got it without having to worry about whether the machines are working or not. At least he's not spending all his time out in the baking sun, looking for the Leylines' paths."

Suddenly, the three heard a dog's whimper. When they headed to the area where the sound originated from, they saw a collie dog trying to fight off a Cursed Corpse. The animal was dodging the attacks with relative ease, but the monster was trying to back her up towards the edge of the cliff, where she would have no room to dodge, and be easily slaughtered.

"Leave that dog alone!" yelled Werner, "You're not going to live to see the end of day." He then brought up his Duel Pistols, and fired them at the monster. The bullet hit it on the chest, and it began to convulse, and soon died. The dog ran towards Werner and gave him a lick on the face, apparently noticing that the man had just saved her life. She let out howls of joy, and began to dance around.

"That was close," Melody stated. But at the same time, she was trying to apply some concealer to her face, to hide the running blush from the eyes of the people when they got to town. She muttered about being left out in the sun, and how she was such a delicate flower.

Suddenly, they heard a woman call out, "Haley, come here girl." The dog turned her attention to the direction it had come from, and began barking for joy. Then, she ran off towards her owner. Werner and the others followed to make sure she made it there without getting hurt.

The dog ran into the arms of a young woman of about twenty-three. She had long blond hair worn in a ponytail, and green eyes that radiated kindness. Her red dress was worn down to below her knees, and a pair of black dress shoes were on her feet. The woman looked at her dog's rescuers. "Thank you for saving Haley. She's always getting into something. If there's anything I can do for you, just name it. I don't have much money, so I can't pay you, but I can do anything else."

"Don't worry about that," Werner said, "We were happy to help you out, Miss. My name is Werner Maxwell, and these are my friends Leehalt Alcheste and Melody Vilente. And your name is?"

  
"Ekatrina, Ekatrina Roughnight. It is a pleasure to meet you. I have to go back home, but I would like to see you again to thank you properly," she replied. She turned to head back to town.

Leehalt asked her, "Wait, where do you live? It is dangerous for a young woman to be out here alone with all of the monsters. The three of us are heading to Little Rock, so why don't we go together?"

She smiled. "Why, that will be wonderful. I don't think I'll have any problems getting home, but it will be nice to have some one else to talk to." But she didn't elaborate on how she would be able to fight if necessary, there didn't appear to be any ARMS on her. If anything, she seemed like a peaceful young woman who would become sick at the first sight of blood.

The woman and the three scientists headed towards the town of Little Rock. There, Ekatrina went to the mines in order to talk to her father. Werner found himself wanting to follow her to make sure she was all right, but was unable to figure out why. After all, he'd only just met this woman.

"So, you're the one who saved my daughter's dog," Edwin Roughnight stated, "I thank you. Ekatrina really loves Haley, she's her best friend. We're in your debt, Mr. Maxwell."

  
"Just call me Werner. I get enough of the formalities at work, I don't need them in social situations like this," the man stated, blushing and holding his arm behind his neck.

Ekatrina then brought the trio to her house, and got them something to eat. She asked Werner a bunch of questions about where he lived and what he did for a living. Werner answered all of them, all while staring into her luscious green eyes. She paid no heed to the other two, it was as if they weren't in the room. This angered Leehalt, and he spent the entire time that they were there staring at the back of Werner's neck, rage seemingly rising. Melody was relieved that he wasn't mad at her this time.

- - - -

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Teefa's Last Words…

A piece of advice, never listen to poetry while daydreaming. Well, a few months ago, we had a poetry reading in class. One kid read a poem called "First Time". It was about a person's first time milking a cow. But there's so much innuendo in it (before the cow is mentioned), so it sounds like sex. Now, try daydreaming about Jet and Virginia while listening, it's not a pretty picture.


	2. Crush on You

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Crush on You

They finished their work and returned back to the Leyline Observitory. Once there, Werner went to the room of his best friend, thirty-year-old Elliot Enduro. Elliot was like an older brother to Werner, as Elliot was an only child and Werner only had a kid brother, and could be relied on to talk about different problems and questions that the young man had.

When he knocked on the door, Elliot's five-year-old son Jet answered the door to let him in, where the boy's father was relaxing with a small shot of whisky, which was his drink of choice, although he only drank responsibly and when it wouldn't interfere with his work or doing something with Jet. They were a tight knit family. Both father and son had silver hair and purple eyes, and Elliot had a small beard on his face. His wife had died in childbirth, so he had to keep his son with him at the lab. Not that it ever stopped him from doing his work. Jet was quite cooperative when Elliot had an assignment to do, and didn't mind spending time with "Uncle Werner" if needed be.

"So, what's on your mind?" asked Elliot, "Something happen when you were in town? Let me guess, it's got something to do with a girl. I'm right, aren't I? Your face just tells all."

  
"I guess you can say that. I kind of feel funny when I'm with this young woman I met just today, I saved her dog from a monster. Then she introduced the three of us to her father, and she just wouldn't take her eyes off of me. Something seemed to radiate from them, something I couldn't name. What do you think it is? I need to know what's wrong with me," Werner requested.

Elliot told him, "Well I'm not an expert, but I think you might have a crush on her. Remember, I've been through all of this before, with Jet's mom and all. You don't have to worry, I'll keep this between us only. And Jet, you're not going to go around and telling the rest of the Council, right?"

  
The boy smiled and pulled his hat low on his forehead. "Ok daddy." He then went to the other room in Elliot's quarters, in order to give the two men some time to talk in private.

"What should I do?" inquired Werner, "I don't know how to impress a girl. Remember, I'm 'Mr. Serious', the man who pays more attention to his work than to anything else. Not exactly the sort of thing a woman is looking for. How can I tell her that I love her without looking like a total buffoon."

"Take it from me Werner, all you need to do is to just be yourself. She seemed to like you just fine before, when you were with her in Little Rock. If a person isn't willing to like you for who you are, then they're not worth the trouble it takes trying to impress them," Elliot stated.

Werner saw the sense in that argument. So he decided to go to the city the next time he had a day off, in order to talk to Ekatrina. He thanked Elliot, and bid him good night. Then, he began to head back to his own quarters. The young man hadn't walked five steps when he ran into Duran Bryant.

Duran was a twenty-nine year old ladies man with short black hair and vibrant brown eyes. Sometimes he plainly confused Werner, as he spoke with this thick accent that often muddled what he was saying. But Werner and the others lived with it, after all, he was the only person there who had the expertise needed to fix the many complex machines found inside of the laboratory. And Duran was a nice guy, he just had an obsession with finding "Mrs. Wright", and little success.

Werner said, "Good to see you. How was your day Duran? Any problems back at the lab? We had, should we say, quite an eventful one. Saved a dog, met a girl, and still got our job done."

  
This excited Duran. "Girl?! Vere iz ziz girl? Iz ze pretty? Vat vaz her name?"

His words didn't surprise Werner, he'd known how excited Duran would get when it came to women. He liked to spend time with the fairer sex even more than Melody liked makeup. Heck, he'd even went out with said female scientist for about a week, until her obsession with makeup finally drove him over the edge. Then he'd raved at what a loony she was to both Elliot and Werner, who tried to look attentive, with yawns betraying their act. He hadn't noticed the two of them doing that though.

"Her name is Ekatrina," Werner told him, "And yes she is pretty. Does that mean that you're in the looking for a girlfriend once more? What happened to Tiffany Willis from Humphrey's Peak?"

"Ze's inzane. Ze woman iz always azking me to go wiz her to zome place to take part in zome kind of daredevil activity. Not ze kind of woman I am looking for," he replied.

He raved about his old girlfriends for about a half-hour before Werner managed to escape. Once back in his room, the young man began to try to figure out what he could do for her. Chocolate? Did she even eat chocolate? Flowers? Was she allergic to pollen or something? Werner found that there was nothing he could give her that was without some sort of negative side that might just come out of it.

He muttered, "Nothing, nothing I can do to impress her. I know I've ought to be myself, but how I must also get her a gift of some sort, in order to show how much I care."

Werner never found himself to be a Romeo, he preferred keeping to himself. His kid brother Tesla was often teasing him because of this. Which was a bad idea, as Werner was always the better fighter of the two. He'd lost count of the number of times that he'd kicked Tesla's butt.

He poured himself a small glass of sparkling water, not being one who drinks wine, even socially. "I guess that nothing in life is ever easy. Maybe I should talk to her about what she likes, then I can get her a nice present. That's it, I'll buy her a nice present after I know what he likes."

All of that could wait for the next day, though. After all, Werner's next vacation would not be for another week or so. He had plenty of time to figure out the words to say to her. Werner went back to his bed, and lay down. He got to sleep running the lists of what he would say in his head.

- - - -

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Teefa's Last Words…  
  
I know Duran's diary had him speaking normally. But that's a text file. You don't speak the same way you write. Else I would be the best speller in the world, as I'm always spelling things the way they'd sound. Simple translations…W's become V's, and S's and Th's become Z's. Example: the first line translates to "Girl?! Where is this girl? Is she pretty? What was her name?"

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	3. Brotherhood

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Brotherhood

The next day, Werner was working on a report he had to do for work. But his mind began to wander as he thought of his plans for his next day off. So he was spending a lot of time looking around in order to see what the other members of his team were up to.

Melody was off to one side, trying to perfect her blush in order to look her best, although he had no idea what use that would do now. Unless she had found a boyfriend of sorts, but who could that be? Surely not Malik Bendict, the only person younger than Melody on the entire council. Those two were always at one another's throats, and they weren't even on the same team.

Leehalt was diligently working on his report, as always. If he could do something to trip Werner up he would. Ever since they were boys Leehalt had been jealous of his peer. He'd tried to beat the other man at every sporting event and intellect challenge known to man. But Werner always came out on top, whatever the contest. Most of the time Leehalt lost because he was prone to letting his temper get the best of him, and refused to stay focused or disciplined.

But today, something was different. Leehalt motioned for Werner to come over to talk to him, as if he wanted to make a truce at long last. Werner was willing to give the other man a chance, he was really tired of playing these silly little games. So he brought his work over to where his comrade sat.

"Werner," Leehalt began, "I know we haven't been the best of friends in the past, but I'm willing to let bygones be bygones. You know, bury the hatchet and all that rot. After all, we have to work with each other every day, so we should at least try to work out all of our problems."

  
"Just what are you getting at with all of this Leehalt? I'm in agreement here, I want to stop dancing this little duet with you. It's beginning to get old. But I want to know what you want from me in return. Remember, you can't pull the wool over my eyes, I know you all too well. The only time you use that tone of voice is if you want something from someone," Werner stated.

Leehalt whispered, "I have to keep my voice down, can't let anyone else hear what I have to say. You remember that girl we met in Little Rock yesterday? The one with the collie dog?"

  
Werner nodded. "Of course I remember Ekatrina. She was really nice, wouldn't you agree?" But his face was beginning to get red as he thought about her. He was well aware that he was blushing, and wondered if Leehalt noticed it too. He must have, for he began to scowl at Werner.

"Well, I want to ask her out," Leehalt admitted, "But I don't have the courage to do so. So, could you possibly write a love letter to her, from me? I'd greatly appreciate it if your would. You know how shy I get among women. I'd probably lose my nerve before I even enter Little Rock."

"You can count on me. I'm really good at poetry and the fine arts. Perhaps the only person who can write better poems than me would be Elliot, but he's been through all this before," Werner said.

Leehalt told him, "I thank you for your assistance Maxwell. You'd better not disappoint me." He then walked over to the other side of the room, leaving his scowl behind on Werner.

Werner wondered why Leehalt had asked this of him. Then, it hit him square in the head. Leehalt knew that Werner had a crush on her as well. He'd figured that if he could get Werner to betray his love in order to keep his promise, it would be the greatest revenge of all. If Werner hadn't had a crush on her, he would have probably gone to Elliot for advice, for Werner was right about his friend's prowess in the finer arts. Else he would have written the letter by himself.

The young man smacked his forehead for being so stupid. He'd just walked right into Leehalt's trap. 'How am I going to get out of this one? Looks like I'm going to need some advice from my unofficial older brother.' He then returned to work, planning to talk to Elliot about the situation later on.

* * *

"Hey Werner, what's up?" asked Elliot, "Is there something wrong?" He offered his friend a seat, and the other man took it. Jet left the room, knowing when there was going to be an adult conversation from all of his experience with his father's talks with Werner.

"Well, you're not drinking," joked Werner. It was after seven PM, and Elliot hadn't so much as touched a glass of wine. Usually this was the best time for the man to enjoy his nightly refreshments. But there wasn't a bottle to be found throughout the quarters. Did something happen?

  
Elliot complained, "Melody and Malik got into another fight. Malik called her a vain little witch, since she was putting makeup on again, and she got so mad that she threw a whole fifth of Jack Daniels at him in anger. Then, he grabbed an expensive vinaigrette wine from the shelf, and threw it at her. Soon every bottle in the whole place was broken, as well as some of the lab equipment. Pete ran out for some more test tubes and other supplies, but he's not getting wine tonight."

Werner sighed. "That's too bad. I need to ask you a favor. It's a matter of life and death for me. Would you be willing to help your old friend out?" He briefly summarized what had transposed between himself and Leehalt. Then, he asked if Elliot could possibly write Leehalt's letter for him.

"Sure I will," the man replied, "It'll be our little secret. No one is ever going to know that you didn't do it. I'll get started on it the second I can, later on tonight after Jet goes to sleep."

"I know I can count on you. For your help, I'll give you this," Werner stated. He produced a bottle of Jack Daniels and a small keg of ale that he'd originally gotten for Elliot's next birthday. What's to say that giving him them a little early wouldn't do any harm. He could always buy more. So after bidding the father and son goodnight, Werner went back to his own quarters to sleep.  
  
- - - -

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Teefa's Last Words…

I got this idea from Zoids NC/0. Well, what Leehalt said in Yggdrasil made me think about the whole Layon/Toros rivalry. And any of you who've seen the show should know what comes next (evil grin on her face).

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	4. Errors

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Errors

"Let's see, how should I begin this?" muttered Elliot, "Maybe I should use something simple, like 'Roses are red, violets are blue'. Nah, too cliché. Or maybe I should use an extended metaphor. Now how did Werner describe her again? Yellow hair, green eyes? That's it. But how to work with that. This is getting me nowhere fast. I need some inspiration." He turned to the bottle of Jack Daniels.

'Well, Werner always says I write my best poetry when I'm sloshed,' he thought. Which, I might add, had been a private joke between the duo, as Elliot was prone to getting a lose tongue when drunk, a primary reason that he never tried to out drink what he could handle.

The man began to chug down the fifth. He had developed a remarkable tolerance for alcohol over the years, so this barely fazed him. So when he was done, he filled a tankard with the ale that Werner had brought, and drank that too. On his second tankard, he completely lost it.

He mumbled, "Now, lesh shee. Shish girl ish supposed to be really pretty, sho I must write about shomething beautiful. How about a flower?" Elliot then began writing furiously, knowing that he had to make this really good. Before long, he had finished the entire poem. It was a work of art.

The man held it up to admire his work. It went something like this. "To this beautiful sunflower. Your emerald orbs sparkle in the sunlight, the great moon pales in comparison to the light from your soul. Would you do me the great honor of going out with me next week?" Then, he went to sign Leehalt's name to the poem. But he was so drunk that he couldn't think strait. All he remembered was Werner coming to him to ask for help writing a poem to a girl. So the name that went on the bottom of the paper was not Leehalt Alcheste, but Werner Maxwell. It was sealed in an envelope, and left on the desk.

* * *

The next day, Elliot went to deliver it to Ekatrina's house. Of course, he couldn't remember exactly what had transpired while he'd written, so he had no idea of his little snafu with the name. All he knew was that he had finished the letter, and it was awaiting delivery. So he arrived in Little Rock in the early morning hours, and headed over to her house. Once there, he rang the bell.

Haley began barking at the sound of the bell. Then, Ekatrina came to the door. She looked as if she'd just gotten out of the shower, as her hair was in a towel and she had her bathrobe on. But she was happy to see someone at the door, it was as if she knew that good news was coming in the mail.

"Excuse me, miss," he began, "I'm here to deliver a letter to a Miss Ekatrina Roughnight from a secret admirer. Might you happen to be the lady in question, or do I have the wrong house?"

  
"No, you've got the right place. I'm Ekatrina Roughnight. And what might your name be?" she asked, all while trying to restrain Haley from running outside and getting lost in the street.

He replied, "I'm Dr. Elliot Enduro, a researcher at the Leyline Observatory. Might you happen to have a drink around, some of my friends broke almost all the liqueur in the lab, and I used the last of it up last night while I was having trouble thinking of a project I was working on."

  
She held up her second finger, as if telling him to hold on a minute. The young woman went inside, and soon returned with a small bottle of wine. "Here, you can take this. Something told me I would need to buy something of the sort, I usually don't drink and my father is unable to, he gets drunk way to quickly and it's not good for his liver. So there isn't a reason to keep this around. Take it, I'm sure it is a good enough restitution for you going out of your way to deliver this to me."

"Any time," he told her, "Well, I've got to get back to the lab. My son should be waking up soon, and he doesn't like it when I'm not there for him. We're very close, him and me."

  
"I understand. Nice meeting you Elliot. Give my regards to your friends, the ones who stopped by here the other day. And especially give regards to my secret admirer," she stated.

With that, Elliot left. Ekatrina went back inside and sat down on the couch. She opened the letter and read it. When she came by the name, her heart skipped a beat. The woman thought, 'Something told me he liked me too. Now, what should I wear when he comes to meet me next week?'

* * *

Elliot came back to the lab, and knocked onto Werner's quarters. "Yo, Werner, mission accomplished. I wrote and delivered the letter just like you told me to. All you've got to do is to tell Leehalt that you've arranged a meeting between him and her next week. Then, you're off the hook."

  
The young man came out of his room, still in his nightclothes. He wasn't used to waking up this early, as his shift didn't begin until ten in the morning. Elliot's news brought him both pain and joy, he'd avoided a fight with Leehalt over the girl, but at the same time he'd rid himself of a chance of ever being able to tell her how he felt. Werner wiped a tear off of his cheek.

"Thanks Elliot," he said, "You're a real pal. Now, I've got to go find out where Leehalt is." He left the room, hoping that his rival was up. It wasn't uncommon for Leehalt to begin his work early in the morning, he was always looking for a way to tell the world how much better than Werner he was.

Werner searched the lab, finally finding him in the office, over some research material. He was reluctant to intervene at first, but when the other man showed no signs of stopping, he stepped up to him. Leehalt was reading a science textbook, but upon noticing Werner, he closed it.

"So, did you write the letter to Ekatrina? What did she say when you delivered it?" he asked.

Werner replied, "I've arranged for you to come and meet her next week in Little Rock. Since I had to come back to the lab in time for work, I couldn't stay to find out her reaction."

  
Leehalt smirked, victory was his. 'I've finally beaten you, Werner Maxwell. You're kindness did nothing to help you here, it caused you to lose the girl to me. For once, I, Leehalt Alcheste have come out on top.' He then gruffly thanked the other man, and returned to reading his book.

- - - -

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Teefa's Last Words…

Let's see what happens when Werner next sees her. This is gonna be soooooooooooo good.

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	5. Together

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Together

"Why am I doing this?" Werner mumbled, "Since when have I become Elliot's messenger boy? If he can't wait until he's got free time to head to the store, he shouldn't have to send me to get him some more wine. Not my fault he binged on most of it when he was writing that letter. Or that he and Pete drank all the stuff hegot from Ekatrina in only two days, as they were celebrating their latest discovery. I certainly didn't tell him to get drunk while he wrote it. So why am I running his errands for him now?"

  
He was walking towards Little Rock, in order to get some of Elliot's favorite wine. Werner had acquired a whole afternoon off, since he'd finished his work early. So he'd ended up being the one who had to replace the alcohol that Melody and Malik had broken during their argument.

After purchasing the refreshment, Werner decided to pick up some baked goods to send to his brother. Tesla had just recently gotten a new girlfriend named Shalte, and he wanted to give him his congratulations. Once finished, the young man began to walk towards the exit of town.

"Werner, is that you? I heard you wouldn't have a day off until next week. So what brings you to town today?" a voice inquired. When he turned around, he could see Ekatrina standing there. She had apparently been walking Haley, as the dog was running around on her leash, and barking loudly.

He said, "Hello Ekatrina. I'm just running some errands for my friend Elliot. Wanted this certain wine with dinner tonight. Got enough free time for finishing my work early and all that. So how have things been going with you? Your father find anything of value on his mining expeditions?"

She looked at him. "I think you know how things have been going. I received a letter from an admirer just the other day. We're supposed to meet next week, but I guess the day's been pushed up."

He wondered if Leehalt had managed to get some time off early as well, probably begging it off of Duran by offering to hook him up with a girl in the near future. And then he'd gotten a letter to her quickly by one of the carrier pigeons that Pete kept. Then he wondered when that was going to be.

"That's really nice," he told her, "So, do you know what you're going to do on this date?" He hoped she could not see the look of sorrow in his eyes. She apparently couldn't, as the young woman was all smiles, and giggled after he had said those words. Werner wondered what was so funny.

"Oh, you're so cute Werner. But I haven't thought of what to do on this date yet. I was thinking we would try to figure something out together. So how about it? What do you want to do?" she asked.

Werner looked shocked. He thought, 'This is strange. She wants to go out with me, but it was "Leehalt" who wrote her the note. Now how in the world did that happen? Oh, Guardians. I am going to be in real deep when he finds this one out. Cuz I know how long that man holds grudges, from past experience. Heck, I still think he's held that time I beat him in Simon Says when we were little kids against me. And it's been over two decades since that thing happened.'

She looked at the pastries in his hands. "Oh, are those for me? You shouldn't have. I knew you were a sweetheart, but I didn't think you would be this kind to someone you have a crush on but barely know. Then again, I should have thought so after reading that nice letter you wrote me."

  
She held up the poem that Elliot wrote. Werner now saw the mess his friend had made in his drunken stupor. He looked upon the flawless poetry and beauty of the words, and his eyes fell on the miswritten name. The young man was so shocked that he forgot that he'd brought the pastries for his brother, and gave them to Ekatrina. He regained his composure quickly.

"So, how about I take you to dinner tonight. We can enjoy a nice meal together, just the two of us. Then, we can go for a nice walk before I've got to return to the lab," Werner said.

* * *

Elliot was waiting for Werner to get back with the wine. When he didn't return, the man began to worry. Werner had shown such reluctance to go to Little Rock, perhaps due to the whole letter incident. So why in the world had he decided to suddenly stay there hours more than needed be?

He got his answer all too soon after. Werner came back to the lab, and knocked on his friend's door. When Elliot answered, he saw an all too familiar look on his friend's face. It said something to the extent of, "I am so screwed, I am gonna take the fall for something that I didn't do."

  
Elliot pulled up a chair, and sat his friend down. "So what happened? Did you get the wine? Because my mouth is sooooooooo parched about now, and the workday was hectic. Malik and Melody were fighting again, and I had to listen to the whole thing. I could really use a drink to calm my nerves."

"You need a drink, You need a drink," yelled Werner, "Maybe you should have thought about that before you downed all of the alcohol I gave you in one setting, and ended up writing that letter to Ekatrina while punch drunk. Do you know how much trouble you could have caused?"

"No, I don't know what trouble I could have caused. What's the worst that could have happened? I throw up from too much and have to start all over on another piece of paper. And that didn't happen at all, so you don't have to get all bent out of shape about it," Elliot told him.

Werner replied, "You signed my name to the letter instead of Leehalt's. Ok, granted I got the girl, but now I'm gonna get myself in some serious trouble. You know how Leehalt can get."

  
Elliot looked at his friend. "Don't worry Werner. I can come up with a plan. How about you tell old Leehalt that you signed the letter anonymously, since he was so embarrassed, and she'd confused your role as messenger with the letter's sender. I'm sure he won't let a mistake on her part make him lose his cool and start another fight with you. Besides, it's not like he'll ever see the letter."

Although Werner wasn't a hundred percent sure that he wasn't in for a fight with his rival, he saw no reason to go along with Elliot's plan until a better one could be found. After all, he had a few more days until Leehalt was getting a day off. So that was a few more days to plan on how to deal with this.

- - - -

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Teefa's Last Words…

Werner is soooooooooooo dead, and it wasn't his fault. You remember Toros and Layon? Even though Oscar was the one who wrote the note, Layon wouldn't listen, and spent how many episodes trying to cream Toros, even going as far as to sell himself out to the series villains. Jet reminds me of Inu Yasha, and Virginia reminds me of Kagome. Oh, don't mind me, just a little Inu Yasha slipping in.


	6. It Hit the Fan

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It Hit the Fan

Eighteen year old Malik Bendict turned his blue eyes towards his two teammates. Elliot was sipping a small glass of wine as he looked at a report. Pete Inkapilia, a thirty-one year old man with brown hair and black eyes framed with glasses, was trying to read some of his research notes. "Hey, did Leehalt leave for his date already? I wanted to ask him something about this program he worked on."

  
"About an hour ago," Elliot stated, "While I was just waking Jet up and making his breakfast, Leehalt stopped by and asked to borrow my best suit. I heard he actually is wearing cologne today, got it off of Duran. And he's doing Melody's programming for a whole week in order to take one of her new bottles of perfume as a gift for the girl. It'll be awhile before he returns, if he's this serious."

  
"That moron, when I get my hands on him he's gonna regret that he was ever born!" a voice boomed from down the hall. Then, Leehalt stormed into the room and, once satisfied that the person who was the source of his rage wasn't in there, left to continue his search, slamming the door behind him.

Pete muttered, "You were saying, Elliot. He certainly wasn't gone for that long. Wonder what happened to cause him to go off the deep end this time. Duran's cologne give her an allergic reaction?"

Elliot shrugged. But, of course, he knew what was going on. 'Looks like he's just found out that Werner's the one she's interested in. He'd better stick to the plan, or he can always skip town for awhile. Although, knowing Leehalt, he'll just go and dig up his hiding place in order to get to him.'

* * *

"Maxwell!" Leehalt yelled, "Come on out here! I've got a bone to pick with you. You thought you could get away with double crossing me, well think again. You'll pay for this one."

Werner was hiding in his room, pretending to be immersed in some scientific magazines. He paid no heed to Leehalt's tirade, hoping that he would just skip the whole room. But even in his most enraged moments, Leehalt thought clearly enough to know where his rival would be hiding. So it wasn't long before he had busted his way in, and was glaring angrily at Werner from across the room.

"Well hello Leehalt. You're home early today. How was your date? Let me guess, Duran's cologne gave her an allergic reaction. Or Elliot accidentally gave you the suit he'd spilt wine on that time we went out to the fancy restaurant to celebrate our accomplishments. Oh no, don't tell me you spilt the perfume that Melody gave you to use as a gift," he said, sounding completely innocent.

Leehalt saw thorough the act. He told him, "Don't play dumb with me. I know what you did. You stole my girl from me. I knew I shouldn't have trusted you to write that letter for me. But I just had to tell myself that I should get over my grudge and give you a chance. You're going to pay for double crossing me, and then setting me up on a date so I can be rejected all over again by the woman I loved."

Werner ran Elliot's excuse through his head. "Well, you told me you were embarrassed, so I signed the letter anonymously. She must have confused my reason for bringing her the letter, and thought that I was her secret admirer, and not just the delivery boy. And the fact that I saved Halle, and she was looking at me all the time when we first met might have had something to do with this incident as well. It wasn't my fault Leehalt, I'd never do something like that. I'm not that kind of person."

  
"Nice try Maxwell," Leehalt stated, "But I know exactly what happened. You did this on purpose just to annoy me. Just to make me let my guard down so you could take her all for yourself."

~ ~ ~ ~

"So what brings you here today Leehalt? You're all dressed up like you're going on a date. The suit looks real good on you. It's nice to hear from you again though. You know, next time you should bring Werner and Melody along, the three of us can go have lunch," Ekatrina requested.

Leehalt asked, "What surprise? I told you I was coming this week. You know, I wrote you a letter and everything. I was under the impression that I'd take you out to a nice dinner in this."

  
She looked confused. "What letter? The only one I received was from Werner Maxwell. He was going to come this week, but he pushed it back a few days while he was here running errands. We had a romantic dinner accompanied by candlelight, and we walked under the stars for awhile afterwards. He's such a nice guy, I already made plans to go out with him again tomorrow night."

"Show me," demanded Leehalt, his blood already boiling, "I want to see what he wrote to you. He told me that you'd received the letter that I had written to you the day after we'd met."

  
She got out the poem that Elliot had written, and handed it to him. He saw that it was on the letterhead used at the laboratory, and that the paper was definitely dated the day after Werner had saved her dog. The poetry was on a level that only could be achieved by either Werner or Elliot. And at the bottom of the letter, with a heart drawn next to it with pen, was the name Werner Maxwell.

~ ~ ~ ~

"How can you deny that you double crossed me now Maxwell?" Leehalt asked.

Werner stated, "Listen, it's not what you think. I asked Elliot to write the letter for me, and then he got drunk. He must have confused my request while he was out of it. Ask him if you don't believe me."

  
Leehalt turned around, keeping his back towards his rival. "Elliot was probably in on the whole thing. I know that the two of you are such good friends. But this isn't over by a long shot. One of these days I'll get my revenge. You will pay for taking my girl from me. And Ekatrina is going to wish that she had chosen me, and not you." Then, he left, slamming the door behind him.

'How did I escape his wrath?' wondered Werner, 'But the battle lines are all drawn now. One day the two of us are going to find ourselves on opposite sides of the battlefield. We're going to be locked in combat over something or other. It may be as silly as this, or it might just be something much bigger. But I know that there will come a time when my gun will be pointed at a man I once called my colleague.'

- - - -

****

Teefa's Last Words…

Now we all know where they turned from a simple rivalry to all out war. Well, let's thank the people who helped with the fic. First, to Media Vision for the game. Second, to the variety sites for getting me into Wild ARMs. Third, to the creators of Zoids for the idea of how the whole love triangle thing might have went. Fourth, for my friend Dan who got me into Zoids. And finally, for everyone at the Ruins of Filgaia message board, where I found out exactly who was who in the picture of the Council of Seven, and got a little insight into how the characters might have acted.


End file.
